Mason J-Roundup

Story Idea: Want a globalization link? Look at the plug

dekubiske@gmail.com (Dan Kubiske) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 12:30:00 +0000

Living overseas for the past 25 years has made me look carefully to be sure an item I buy in the States will work in another country. And vice-versa.

The cosmetic issue is the plug size and shape. They come in a wide variety but adapters are available for all.

The real issue is the voltage.

The U.S. system is 110-120 volts. Europe and many other countries use 220-240 volts. Plugging a U.S. item into a European power line can fry the device.

That is why converters were invented. And I have a large collection of converters from my 30 years of travel.

But in the last few years just about every electrical device I have purchased has been 100-240 volts. That means all I have to do is worry about is making sure the plug fits. And adapters are cheaper than converters.
How does all this relate to globalization?

Manufacturers are no longer building electrical products for JUST the U.S. or European or Asian markets. They are making their products easily available to the rest of the world.

A laptop purchases at Best Buy in Fairfax, Va., with a plug adapter can draw power from the grid in China, France or Brazil with ease.

Trust me, even 5 years ago that was not such an easy thing to assume.

And many manufacturers are now including adapter plugs with the unit. So no need to go out and buy one.

So if journalists are looking for a link between their individual lives and the rest of the world, look no further than the power ratings on the back of your computer and look at the plug.

Story ideas could include:

What is safer, 110 or 220 volts?
Why does the US use 110 volts?
How this 100-240 volt availability makes travel and business easier.

And your idea?

More data on a trend we already know about

dekubiske@gmail.com (Dan Kubiske) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:12:00 +0000

One point sticks out in this reprot form the Census Bureau: "Those who were least likely to own a computer in 2005 were the elderly, those in poverty and those without a high school diploma."

This is an important point to understand as more government entities move to providing services online. So please tell me, how do these groups participate in the government?

Homes With Cell Phones Nearly Double in First Half of Decade

The number of households with cell phones increased from 36 percent to 71 percent between 1998 and 2005, according to new data released by the U.S. Census Bureau. This corresponded with a decrease in households with telephone landlines, particularly households headed by young adults.

These figures are part of an in-depth look at the living standards of U.S. households using extended measures of well-being. The data were collected in 2005 as part of the ongoing Survey of Income and Program Participation. The survey is unique because it allows the user to track select quality of life measures over time using a variety of demographic characteristics.

"While income is generally regarded as the best single measure of one's living standard, it doesn't give us the whole picture," said Tiffany Julian, an analyst in the Census Bureau's Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division. "This survey is unique in that it includes additional measures of well-being that give us a broader look at household living conditions."

Householders who were 29 or younger went from 35 percent with cell phones in 1998 to 81 percent in 2005. Over the same period, this same group saw a decrease in ownership of landline phones from 93 percent to 71 percent.

Landline phone ownership fell from 96 percent to 91 percent overall from 1998 to 2005. In 2005, 98 percent of householders who were 65 and over had a landline telephone.

The number of households with a personal computer increased from 42 percent to 67 percent between 1998 and 2005. Those who were least likely to own a computer in 2005 were the elderly, those in poverty and those without a high school diploma.

Among the indicators in this survey that measure quality of life are possession of appliances and electronic goods, housing conditions, neighborhood conditions, public services and the ability to meet basic needs, such as paying bills, avoiding foreclosure and having sufficient food.

Some of the household characteristics in this survey include race, Hispanic origin, age, income, poverty status and type (e.g., family, nonfamily, married, nonmarried, etc.).

To determine who is in poverty, the Census Bureau uses a set of income thresholds that vary by family size and composition.

Other statistics:

In 2005, 92 percent of householders felt their neighborhoods were safe; 96 percent were satisfied with public services such as fire and police protection.
Eighty-six percent of households reported being able to keep up-to-date on overall essential expenses.
Households that paid either rent or a mortgage were generally up to date on their payments -- 94 percent.
Ninety percent of households responded that they were able to pay their utility bills.
Households in poverty were more likely to have trouble paying bills; 35 percent had unmet bills.
Among all households, 96 percent reported having a microwave oven.
Ninety-five percent of households said they had no roof or ceiling leaks; 97 percent reported no broken windows.

Threatened in Iran, coverage continues from Toronto

dekubiske@gmail.com (Dan Kubiske) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:40:00 +0000

Students might be interested to know what they are getting into if they go into overseas reporting.

Thanks to Jim Romenesko at the Poynter Institute for a great story about the professional and personal anguish reporters trying to cover Iran have had to go through.

Canada is becoming a safe haven for the world's exiled journalists

Find a story in international data

dekubiske@gmail.com (Dan Kubiske) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:19:00 +0000

Transparency International just came out with the 2009 Corruption Index.

Now where, might you ask is there a story for student journalists in that?

Let's start with just the international community at a college campus. What are the reactions of the students from Country X about the ranking their home country got? What is their own perception of corruption in their country AND in the USA? What do they think should be done about the problem of corruption? What do they think are the main effects of corruption on their countries?

From there, start talking to professors from other lands. Professors who are studying the most corrupt countries on the list. Get them to talk about the hows and whys of the problem.

Boom! A local campus story with an international angle.

Now step outside the campus and talk to the local immigrant communities. Ask them the same questions you asked the foreign students.

Boom! Another local story with an international angle.

Go to New corruption index out for more discussion on this issue and a batch of links.

Racism and progress

dekubiske@gmail.com (Dan Kubiske) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:17:00 +0000

One big issue in the world is racism and how to fight it.

I was amazed at the racism in the Dominican Republic. And I have known for some time the feelings of racial superiority by the Chinese. I saw how Shanghainese treated African exchange students. (Very humiliating.)

For Americans who have not had the overseas experience, this story (China's black pop idol exposes her nation's racism) and others like it could provide a good measure about racism and discrimination in our own country. We could look at how and why changes have occurred in the States. (After all it never hurts to challenge opinions and conventional wisdom.)

Another place to look for story ideas

dekubiske@gmail.com (Dan Kubiske) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:45:00 +0000

For a long time I have loved the Census Bureau as a source for background info and ideas for stories. With the holidays coming up, there are plenty of stories possible from the data the Census Bureau has.

Here is a link to some basic information.

How a Denver station covered "Balloon Boy"

dekubiske@gmail.com (Dan Kubiske) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:44:00 +0000

Al Tompkins at Poynter interviewed the news director at KUSA-TV, the station that broke the story about the 6-year old who supposedly climbed into the basket of a balloon just outside Denver.

From this interview it looks as if it took some real convincing to get the station to believe the "lost boy" in a balloon story was real.

KUSA-TV News Exec Explains Station's Balloon Boy Coverage

Money makes the world go 'round

dekubiske@gmail.com (Dan Kubiske) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 21:55:00 +0000

Story ideas pop up in the strangest places.

Transparency International looked at 180 countries and came out with its latest report on corruption in the world.

Go to my blog to see a few choice comments and to get all the links to look over the 500 page document.

So how does this fit in with students and student journalists in the United States?

To begin with, the U.S. is no angel. We came in below Canada (#9) at #18. And seven other countries are less likely top pay bribes than the U.S.

But reporters could look at the cost of corruption and corrupt practices. The could look at:

What rules and regulations are in place to prevent corruption in the bidding process to do business with the university.
What local laws are on the books to prevent corruption in city, county and state purchases.
Have there been any cases of corruption or questionable dealings in university or local government contracting.

A lot of this will require use of the freedom of information act. Good exercise for the students.

BTW, Chile (#23) was praised for enacting whistle-blower and freedom of information laws. The TI said these laws are a big help in fighting corruption.

How successful has the use of whistle blower or FOI laws been in finding corrupt practices?

Good hunting!

Getting data where you can

dekubiske@gmail.com (Dan Kubiske) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 19:07:00 +0000

I just posted a story idea blog item on the DC SPJ web site. It's all about using the Census Bureau data to build good stories.

http://www.spjdc.org/node/13507

You might want to consider inviting a person from the Census Bureau to explain to your students how to really mine the Bureau's databases.

Deadline: A history

dekubiske@gmail.com (Dan Kubiske) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 11:05:00 +0000

Publisher, scolding the editorial staff for the paper being late one day:

“Do you know where deadline comes from? It comes from prison. If the guards saw you cross the deadline, you were shot.”

Herdict: What is and isn't accessible

dekubiske@gmail.com (Dan Kubiske) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 07:51:00 +0000

A while back Tom Crampton wrote about a website that tests accessibility of other web sites. The site, Herdict harnesses the reporting power of the entire Internet to see what sites are being blocked in what countries.

To no ones' surprise, I am sure, China and Iran lead the way.

For example, in the past week FACEBOOK received eight inaccessible reports. Five were from China.

YouTube had 15 inaccessible reports. Here China led with three of the reports, followed by Indonesia and the United States (2 each), Egypt, France, Israel, India, Morocco, Malaysia, Portugal and Tuvalu with one each.

Granted some of those reports may have been because of network glitches. But the overall pattern is that China leads the way with the most sites made inaccessible to Internet users.

If you are a traveler, you should think seriously about joining the Herdict herd. I regularly send in reports from Brazil (a very open place).

The more we know about how and where information is being denied, the more we can report on it. Download the browser add-in here.

The Mindset list is ready!

dekubiske@gmail.com (Dan Kubiske) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 12:12:00 +0000

I love this list.

The Mindset List is a collection of the way the incoming freshman class of college sees things.

For example for the class of 2013:

They have never used a card catalog to find a book.
Tattoos have always been very chic and highly visible.
Chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream has always been a flavor choice.
They have never had to “shake down” an oral thermometer.
Condoms have always been advertised on television.
They have always been able to read books on an electronic screen.
“Womyn” and “waitperson” have always been in the dictionary.
There has always been blue Jell-O.

For those of us who had to teach these students, it offers an insight into how they think and how they perceive the world.

Just think about how many times j-profs ask their students, "Who reads a newspaper every day?" Usually 90% of the hands go up.

Then when the question is changed to, "How many read a paper newspaper everyday? That is one that is not online?" Almost all the hands remain down.

Times and perceptions change. This list has always helped me better understand those changes.

BTW, the list goes back to the class of 2002. So you can look at how your 4th year students see things as easily as the 1st year students.

Story idea: Just how prepared are college campuses

dekubiske@gmail.com (Dan Kubiske) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:50:00 +0000

This month is National Preparedness Month.

The whole is idea is to be ready for anything. And I wonder, as I looked over the NPM web page, "How well prepared are college campuses?"

I don't know.

Do you? Do your students?

Just think about how panicky the Washington area gets with just a few snowflakes. And the traditional run on milk and toilet paper. (I never understood why those two items. But every time a big snow presses down on DC, people stock up on milk and toilet paper.)

Searching for the story

dekubiske@gmail.com (Dan Kubiske) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 09:10:00 +0000

A couple of years ago a student filed a story about the growing trend of hookah use. The story came from the assigned theme: "The World and your backdoor."

Of course I knew about Alice in Wonderland and Jefferson Airplane ("And a hookah smoking caterpillar..."). And -- as a child of the 60s -- the American version: The bong.

I discovered from my student's article there was a growing hookah scene in the DC area. This meant more than a bunch of kids getting together on a street corner or in a backyard smoking shisha in a hookah (as my sons did). There were hookah bars and a whole social network that went with it.

It was a well done story and I suggested she try to sell it to a local magazine. She never followed through on it.

THis week I received a copy of Fortune Small Business. One of the major stories was all about the hookah movement and how a few guys figured out how to make money in it.

The article looks at the building of the business as well as the growing trend among young people to go to hookah bars.

Maybe your students might want to look into this phenom in the GMU/Fairfax community.

Booming hooka biz links China, Iran, Egypt -- and Texas

Don’t Depend on Spell Check

dekubiske@gmail.com (Dan Kubiske) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:21:00 +0000

Reuters carried a story today about how employers look at resumes: Here is my job resumay

Spelling errors on a resume can kill a chance for a job.

"The resume is an applicant's first chance to impress the hiring manager," said Kathryn Bolt, president of Accountemps' Canadian operations. "Mistakes on one's application materials may prompt employers to assume there also will be mistakes made on the job."

This reminded me of a small piece I wrote for one of my journalism classes when I saw that my students were not fully looking over their work for spelling errors. I told them one of the best ways to find mistakes is to take the time to read their article out loud.

"The ear," I said, "can catch an error the eye might miss."

Plus, I added, don't trust spell check alone. Correctly spelled words in the wrong place are just as bad as misspelled words. The Reuters' piece offers the following:

Common mistakes include: "Dear Sir or Madman", "I'm attacking my resume for you to review", "Following is a grief overview of my skills" and "Have a keen eye for derail."

And I offer my own contribution:

When ewe right, ewe should remember two double Czech you’re spelling. Spell check will knot catch awl miss takes.

As eye sit hear in my office reeding articles, eye one dear how many thymes I have scene speeling errors that should have been avoided.

Spell check a loan does knot prevent mistakes.

Sum times using the grammar Czech helps too identify some miss takes.

Butt knot awl of them.

There is nothing like reeding a story out loud. When ewe reed sum thing and here it, ewe can often sea wear the mistakes our.

Just two old white guys sittin' around talking about the future of journalism (and getting it wrong)

noreply@blogger.com (Tour of '03 (Steve Klein)) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 19:28:00 +0000

Two pipsqueaks sitting around talking

Fighting trite writing everywhere

dekubiske@gmail.com (Dan Kubiske) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 09:37:00 +0000

Good journalists try to avoid cliches. (Dare I say, like the plague?)

One of the good things about being a good journalist is that the solid writing skills developed in this business can translate into other areas.

Here is a good piece on resume writing -- 10 boring phrases you should cut from your resume -- from TechRepublic.

I especially like the graf: "Cliched forms of speech are crutches for the uncreative. And the frequency of their usage make them absolutely meaningless."

Good journalists -- good writers -- are not uncreative. So why should your resume not show you at your best?

Find the right internship

dekubiske@gmail.com (Dan Kubiske) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:07:00 +0000

CNet has a great article about web sites that help students find the right internship.

Go here.

Different CUltures - Different ways to questions

dekubiske@gmail.com (Dan Kubiske) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 12:55:00 +0000

I looked at the transcript of an interview session Pres. Obama had with Arab news organizations while in Egypt.

Take a look at how many of the reporters prefaced their questions:

Q Well, thank you for your speech. I'm sure that the Palestinians are overwhelmed by some of the things that you have said regarding the Palestinian issue, specifically about the settlements.
Q (As translated.) I think your speech was wonderful and more -- above and beyond everybody was expecting. And you have talked about the Middle East and the future of this region. You also spoke about the commitment of the United States towards achieving progress towards special issues. I also believe there are some difficulties. I might want to be much more precise.
Q First of all, Mr. President, I want to congratulate you for a great speech.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.

Q I believe that everybody in the region listened to it, including in my country.

Now to be clear, not ALL the reporters did this. And before anyone criticize the way the reporters from the area do their jobs, but it does show differences in how news is gathered and perceived in other countries.

Chinese plainsclothesmen block CNN

dekubiske@gmail.com (Dan Kubiske) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 08:24:00 +0000